Across Georgia

DANIELSVILLE - A Madison County history group has taken a first step on a path that might one day lead to a county museum - or at least to gathering enough material for historic displays to mark the 200th anniversary of the county's founding in 2011.

That step came last week when the Madison County Commission granted the Madison County Heritage Foundation permission to use vaults in the county's old courthouse to store historic items.

The first artifacts are yet to go into the vault, but the foundation already has gathered a few candidate items, such as publications from the old Comer High School and a century-old wedding quilt.

The foundation has turned down offers in the past because it didn't have adequate safe storage.

Gainesville State wants new building

ATHENS - Gainesville State College wants permission from the University System Board of Regents to build a $1.5 million multipurpose building on its Oconee campus, the first addition to the 14-acre campus since it opened in 2003.

On Tuesday, the regents tabled a request to approve the proposal until university system officials can evaluate whether the project fits into the system's evolving goals for how buildings are planned so that they best meet student needs.

The proposed 10,900-square-foot building would include administrative, office and physical education space that would supplement the campus' facilities, which college officials said are far below what they need to serve the 2,500 students enrolled in Oconee County.

DA's office is missing reviews on shootings

DECATUR - The district attorney's office, which is the only outside agency that usually reviews fatal police shootings in DeKalb County, is missing records on half the reviews it has finished in recent years.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution requested records for 20 completed reviews on fatal police shootings in the county from 2000-05, but the district attorney's office told the newspaper it could not find records for 10 cases.

News of the missing files comes amid scrutiny of the DeKalb County Police Department, which saw a surge in the number of fatal police shootings last year.

In 2006, there were 12 incidents in which officers shot suspects to death.